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This Safari concept is leagues better than iOS 15's current mess

zakarhino

zakarhino

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Original poster
Sep 13, 2014
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So 9to5mac made some concept renders on how to fix Safari on iOS 15. It's not perfect but leagues better than what's currently on iOS 15. If both the title bar and footer bar had the option to disappear when scrolling (leaving every corner of the screen to flow in and out with fullscreen content instead of awkwardly colored blocks at the top and bottom like we have now) and if we had the option to swap out a couple of the buttons at the bottom with functions we prefer (such as replacing the share button with a refresh button) it would be a near perfect Safari design.

Thoughts?


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Why back button, when using the swipe back gesture is easier?
Why bookmarks button, when a tap on the address bar brings you instantly to your favorites?
Why search button, again why not just tap on the address bar?
Why tabs button, when a simple gesture (swiping up from the address bar in iOS15) can replace it?
Why is the address bar on top, when it would be more reachable on the bottom?

Every decision Apple made in iOS15 Safari is better. You just need to use it a few days to get used to it.
 
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11235813 said:
Why back button, when using the swipe back gesture is easier?
Why bookmarks button, when a tap on the address bar brings you instantly to your favorites?
Why search button, again why not just tap on the address bar?
Why tabs button, when a simple gesture (swiping up from the address bar in iOS15) can replace it?
Why is the address bar on top, when it would be more reachable on the bottom?

Every decision Apple made in iOS15 Safari is better. You just need to use it a few days to get used to it.
Click to expand...

1. back button is faster for two hand browsing (taps are instant, swipes are not)

2. If it were hot swappable to an alternative button this wouldn't matter. They removed practically all important buttons (back button, refresh button, share button) and hid them in another convoluted scrolling menu layer; this is extremely anti productive design. E.g, switching to private tabs is now a 3 tap operation which is bogged down by a slow pop up animation for the tab menu and a slow pop in animation for the tabs themselves. Not to mention finding the private tabs button in the tab menu is significantly slower Compare this action to iOS 14: two taps that don't require anything other than muscle memory to complete as both buttons are in fixed positions. It takes me less than a second to switch between the two on iOS 14 vs. 2-3 seconds on iOS 15. That means this frequently used action takes 2-3x longer. Unacceptable for anyone that isn't a lethargic boomeresque phone/computer user.

3. for those that think having the address bar on the bottom (current iOS 15 design) is more ergonomic, two options

4. taps are instant and predictable, swiping in iOS 15 safari is not. designing to accomodate muscle memory on such a core app that people have been using for years is important.

5. because the address bar has always been at the top, where every every other browser and almost every other application (including much of Apple's own apps) display what content is currently being shown. again, why change something that isn't broken and screw with people's muscle memory.

Many of the decisions Apple made in iOS15 Safari are worse. You just need a few minutes of use to realize that. My opinion is still the same 2 weeks into using it. People have said the same thing about macOS 12's Safari too.

In conclusion: muscle memory, muscle memory, muscle memory.
 
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This is basically the same we have at the moment. I thought, one benefit of the new interface is easier one-hand-surfing?
 
11235813 said:
Why back button, when using the swipe back gesture is easier?
Why bookmarks button, when a tap on the address bar brings you instantly to your favorites?
Why search button, again why not just tap on the address bar?
Why tabs button, when a simple gesture (swiping up from the address bar in iOS15) can replace it?
Why is the address bar on top, when it would be more reachable on the bottom?

Every decision Apple made in iOS15 Safari is better. You just need to use it a few days to get used to it.
Click to expand...
Bookmarks are superior IMO. A list versus a grid and bookmarks open from the last place you left off. Favorites requires you to tap the same folder over and over again if for example I’m reading from a dozen of my news bookmarks. Also upper left for the bookmarks button is awful ergonomics.
 
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Muscle memory is definitely a thing. On countless occasions I've caught myself tapping the top of the screen to type in a URL.

That aside I really like the new homepage configuration. Checking it out now there's even more than I had realized. Favorites and frequently visited at the top, followed by Shared with You links (which is awesome; one of my favorite aspects of iOS 15 so far), a Privacy Report telling me Safari has prevented 51 trackers from profiling me within the past week (also cool), then my reading list and finally a list of tabs from my iPad.
 
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I really like the new safari. It does take a while to get used to it and it’s still a bit buggy, but so far I think it’s an improvement. Same on macOS.
 
Nah, I really love the redesign as it is. There are a few tweaks that could be made but otherwise it's a huge improvement for me over the old design.
 
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These changes are likely in advance to hardware changes next year. Same thing happened the year before the X was released. That year swipes and gestures were added in anticipation of the home button going away.

Rumors point to the notch leaving next year. Most, if all people would have trouble tapping a search bar at the very top. As far as the rest goes, b1 is a first pass with the new concepts. I expect to see a lot of tweaking before September
 
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Concepts in general do nothing but set people up for disappointment. I never take the time to look at them. Same goes for the "what do you want to see in iOS X.0?" and "what did Apple leave out that should've been in X?" threads.
 
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blairh said:
Bookmarks are superior IMO. A list versus a grid and bookmarks open from the last place you left off. Favorites requires you to tap the same folder over and over again if for example I’m reading from a dozen of my news bookmarks. Also upper left for the bookmarks button is awful ergonomics.
Click to expand...

The new tab button at the bottom left is also a terrible placement. It’s the hardest corner of the phone to reach on a Max device. It should be more central.
 
zakarhino said:
The new tab button at the bottom left is also a terrible placement. It’s the hardest corner of the phone to reach on a Max device. It should be more central.
Click to expand...
Unless you're left handed. If you're not, swiping the address bar to the left also gives a new tab.

Options.
 
zakarhino said:
The new tab button at the bottom left is also a terrible placement. It’s the hardest corner of the phone to reach on a Max device. It should be more central.
Click to expand...
If you are right handed the worst corner to reach is the upper left.
 
I've got to admit that I tried the new Safari for nearly a week now, and I really don't like it so far. I hope they reverse a few decisions throughout the betas, or I might be looking for another browser. The thing that makes me hesitant about moving to something else is the Private Relay feature.

- The fact that I have to make a second click to refresh a page is absurd.
- The "collapsed HUD" mode takes a little bit more room than before.
- The address bar combined with the tabs is unclean.
- The address bar at the bottom often hides buttons on websites.

What I do like better is the grid view when switching between tabs, reminiscent to what we had pre-iOS 7.
Never really liked the "wallet" view we had in the recent years.
 
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blairh said:
If you are right handed the worst corner to reach is the upper left.
Click to expand...

For me it's the very lower left because it requires the most hand gymnastics to tap (especially when the hit box is so small like in Safari). If the "Done" and "+" buttons were reversed that would be great.

Knowlege Bomb said:
Unless you're left handed. If you're not, swiping the address bar to the left also gives a new tab.

Options.
Click to expand...

That requires you to already be on the last tab otherwise a left swipe takes you to the next tab not a new one.
 
I like the concept a lot and it looks really clean, but I still prefer the bottom URL bar. I find it a lot easier to use, especially when one handed.

My biggest issue is just how tabs look on small devices like the iPad mini or an iPhone in landscape. Not very fun to use.
 
I like the bottom URL bar (though I've still not gotten used to not reaching for the top yet), but I don't like that I have to tap twice to refresh--especially since the first tap to pull up the menu is slow.
 
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Anybody else feel that the open tabs screen should have a pull down to refresh all windows? I could see myself checking that page throughout the day for website updates, as opposed to opening and refreshing each individual page.

Also seems strange that the address bar has to keep flipping from the top to the bottom while in use. Just leave it at the bottom, and move it just above the keyboard when I type.
 
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